The Article That Could Save Your Life
Emergency situations happen more often than people like to think. Hundreds of thousands of people die each year from unintentional injuries, falls and poisoning, but knowing what to do in such situations can keep you from becoming part of the statistics. Here are some instructions on how to handle seven emergency situations when no one is around to help.
CHOKING
If you find yourself choking after over-zealously attempting to suck off every drop of BBQ flavor from some Korean galbi (갈비) and no one is around to give you the Heimlich, here’s what you can do to save your shameless self.
Put your finger down your throat and try to remove the object. If you cannot reach the blockage, let your body’s natural gag reflex try to dislodge it. Still not working? Give yourself the Heimlich! Walk over to a chair or sofa with a thick armrest, the kitchen counter or any other piece of furniture with an edge you can press your upper abdomen against (the upper abdomen is the soft part of your thorax below your rib cage). With force, thrust up and inward until the object is expelled.
Even if you are unable to speak call 119 and leave the line open; write the word “choking” on something nearby.
HEART ATTACK
Not all heart attacks are sudden and intense. In fact, heart attack victims report being unsure of what was happening. Their heart attacks started slowly with mild pain or discomfort. Whether you are sure or not you should always call for help. Symptoms of a heart attack include a squeezing or pressure feeling in the chest, discomfort in other areas of the upper body (i.e. neck; jaw; back; one or both arms), shortness of breath, nausea, and breaking out in a cold sweat.
What should you do? Act fast.
Chew up a 325 milligram tablet of aspirin. Grinding it up in your mouth prior to swallowing it will allow it to absorb more quickly into your bloodstream, thinning your blood and often stopping the heart attack. If you start to feel lightheaded, lie down to put less stress on your heart and thump on your chest or cough deeply to get your heart back into normal rhythm.
IMPALEMENT
A truck hit a faulty crash barrier, sending an eight-foot metal shaft through the driver’s body. Realizing no one was around to have witnessed the freak accident, the driver managed to phone his boss to say, “I’ve had a bit of an accident—I’m in a spot of bother.”
How did he manage to survive (yes, he survived)? Beyond the rod missing all his major organs, another factor that helped keep Jason from expiring was that he left the rod in place.
Lesson learned? If you have been impaled by an object, do not remove it. The object may be the only thing preventing you from bleeding out. If you have been jabbed by a large object, such as a tree branch, you can trim off pieces, but do not remove it.
BLEEDING
Say you’re bleeding profusely. What’s your initial reaction? You try to make the bleeding stop, right? It might be instinctual to want to tie off the wound with a tourniquet, but forget about tourniquets, just don’t do it. If you do not know what you are doing you could lose your entire limb by cutting off circulation to that area. Tourniquets should only be used when you are absolutely sure everything below the tie-off point is beyond saving.
Instead, apply pressure to the wound, pushing down with your hand or any clean cloth nearby.
VEHICLE SINKING IN WATER
If your vehicle has hit water, roll down your windows as soon as possible before the electrical system fails. Yes, you want to let water in because it will equalize the pressure between the space in the car and the space outside, allowing you to be able to open the door or swim out the window.
Additionally, some drivers keep a tool called a “life hammer” in their cars. It’s designed to shatter automotive glass and cut seat belts in emergency situations. Note: The side windows will be easier to break than the windshield because they’re are thinner.
OPEN WATER/STRONG CURRENTS
Swimming can be dangerous if you get caught in a riptide; the water might carry you out to sea. When caught in a riptide, people instinctively swim directly towards the shore, favoring the shortest route possible to safety. However, you cannot strong-arm Mother Nature. Swimming against a strong current will tire you out and expend the precious energy you’ll need to survive.
Don’t swim directly towards the shore. Swim parallel to the beach line in either direction until you feel the pull of the tide decreasing. This works because the strong currents flow in narrow channels.
POISONING
New rule! Do not induce vomiting!
In the past, first aid manuals advised people to vomit if they ingested poison. Now, emergency procedures for poisoning have been revised to warn against it.
There are several reasons why. First, if you swallowed something caustic, it burned your esophagus going down and you don’t want to damage your esophagus further by bringing it back up. Second, your stomach has other fluids and juices in it that will help dilute the toxin. Third, the lining of your stomach is sturdier than the lining in your esophagus. Fourth, there is a chance you could accidentally inhale the contents while throwing them up, which would damage your lungs.
One rule that has not changed is the most important of all — call poison control immediately. When it comes to understanding the nature of chemicals, always defer to the experts.
Go forth and stay safe!